Illusion or Disillusion?
by saphirablossom
Summary: Halloween, night of all evils, and Sakura, Syaoran, Eriol and Tomoyo, deprived of magic, must survive one night in an abandoned mansion. But upon entering, a message is revealed, ...the last one, plagued with 3 words... One by one, they all disappear...


**Disclaimer: Don't own CCS, Clamp does, so don't bother me...**

**Hi, it's me again, with a new story!! I know it's a little early for Halloween, but I don't know if I'll be able to post it up then and I think it's best to post it now! So anyway, this is a one-shot I wrote, thinking about what kind of crazy thing could happen to our gang, meaning Sakura, Syaoran, Eriol, and Tomoyo, on Halloween. I hope you all enjoy and for those who have read my on-going fic "Darkness Rising", yes, I will update!! And now, read...**

**Illusion or Disillusion?**

Today is the day of the supernatural. Yes, you guessed it, today is Halloween. That is why Tomoyo put it upon herself to dare Sakura to sleep an entire night alone in the abandoned mansion on the outskirts of Tomoeda. Only problem was, she'd be alone with Syaoran. But since Syaoran pretty much dared Eriol to do the same exact thing with Tomoyo, they ended up as four teenagers, age 14, camping out inside a creepy mansion on Halloween night. They all arrived at precisely 9:00 P.M. Eriol then said,

"Well, I suppose that we should go inside now?"

They all nodded and walked inside. Eriol went first, followed by a septic Tomoyo, who was followed by Syaoran. But Sakura refused to go inside.

"I, I don't want to go in there!" she said, breathing heavily out of fear.

Syaoran took her hand and pulled her close to him.

"Don't worry, I'm here. Nothing will happen to you, it's only an old house after all. I promise." he said to her.

After a moment's hesitation, she succumbed to Syaoran's sweet embrace. She followed him inside. Instantly after having gone beyond the threshold of the doorway, it slammed shut. By itself. Half wanting to reassure Sakura, half himself, Syaoran said,

"Ha, ha very funny Eriol."

A moment of disturbing silence followed.

"Ah, Syaoran? I'm right here..." said Eriol, standing at least 10 feet away from the door.

Syaoran frowned. He then asked,

"And what makes me think that you didn't use your nasty magic to close that door?"

Eriol then spoke, his voice letting in on his fear, yet he tried to make them laugh, nevertheless,

"My descendant, I can't use my magic. Neither can you or Sakura. We sealed our magic for 24 hours, remember? I did it right in front of you..."

Syaoran froze in shock. Sakura, who was still in his arms, began whimpering.

"You don't think..." she asked.

"No, of course not! It, it must be a slight breeze!" Tomoyo interjected.

Syaoran looked at Tomoyo, and replied,

"But Tomoyo, there was_ no _wind..."

Sakura felt weaker in Syaoran's arms. Suddenly, out of no where, lightning flashed, followed by thunder, revealing a horrific sight in the eerie light. Written in letters, dark crimson colored, was the message:

_Trespassers, in the house of the devil you have entered. Each of you shall suffer the same fate, in this house your blood shall rain. Murdered in the darkness, one by one you shall be. The last that stands, plagued with three words: Illusion or disillusion?_

Sakura felt herself go weak in the knees. She almost fainted. Someone or something was after them. Each stared in blank horror before the message, questioning themselves if this was all real.

'What a great time to be deprived of magic, thanks a _lot _Eriol...' thought Syaoran.

He held Sakura closer, trying desperately to calm her down. Suddenly, a figure appeared up on the grand stair case. It was draped in a flowing black cloak and had blood running from its mouth. Upon seeing them, it smiled. Revealing two sharp fangs.

"V,v,v... VAMPIRE!" cried Tomoyo.

The vampire began descending the stairs, getting closer and closer to them at each step. They all looked in separate directions, wondering frantically where to run. Finally, they all ran towards the nearest door and yanked it open. They ran for their lives. Eriol and Syaoran blocked the door with anything they could find, which included chairs, tables, furniture.

After that, they rushed back to Sakura and Tomoyo, wrapping the faint girls in their embrace. The door on the other side of the room slowly creaked open, revealing a dark, spider-webbed corridor. Trembling, they walked cautiously beyond the threshold. They found themselves before multiple doors, leading in different directions. Somewhere boarded up, some had no handle to turn. Some even had no door. They advanced slowly, wondering which door they should take. Eriol released Tomoyo and said,

"I'll check that room."

He pointed to a room a few feet away, closed by a large and wrecked black door. He took a deep breath and walked up to the door. He pulled the handle and entered the dark room. At first, nothing happened. Then suddenly,

"AHH!!" they heard Eriol yell.

A knife stabbing into raw flesh was heard multiple times as Eriol cried out once more in pain. They rushed inside, only to find Eriol lying on the floor, dead, covered in blood and stab marks, a knife protruding from his arm. Syaoran and Sakura froze in shock. Sakura covered her mouth in disgust and pain. Tomoyo cried,

"NO!!!" and fell to her knees, sobbing hysterically.

Syaoran and Sakura were still in a state of utter shock. Eriol, dead? Clow Reed's great reincarnation, no longer of this world? It was impossible. Yet his tattered and lifeless body proved it all. Tomoyo, still sobbing out her heart, was suddenly picked up by Syaoran. Sakura, having heard footsteps in a distance, had told Syaoran, who thought it wiser to leave. Thought he hated to admit it, when Eriol was gone, things weren't the same. Even Sakura was completely drained from the sight. They both secretly promised themselves that they would come back for his body, to give their friend some dignity. So it was rather tensed and sad that they left the room, pulling a heartbroken Tomoyo, still crying out Eriol's name, in their midst.

They walked like this, restraining Tomoyo from running back towards Eriol, through several more corridors filled with doors much like the one Eriol had gone through. Seeing that Eriol had been killed while he was alone, and that they hadn't been attacked since, Syaoran had come to the conclusion that they couldn't venture alone without risking death. At one turning point, they found themselves before a large window, which was surprisingly at least 3 stories above the ground, though they hadn't encountered any steps that led them to being this high above ground. Sakura, noticing this, began to wonder,

'But how...?'

She didn't have the time to finish. Suddenly, lightning flashed and the thunder roared. A lone figure, draped in a black, ripped cloak, held out a bony, flesh eaten hand towards them. Blood dripped onto the ground from where it stood. Sakura screamed and accidentally released Tomoyo. Seeing her opportunity, Tomoyo pulled her wrist out of Syaoran's grasp and ran towards where Eriol was still lying lifeless upon the floor. Sakura whipped around and saw Tomoyo turn the corner.

"No, Tomoyo don't!!" she yelled at her friend.

Lightning flashed yet again and Sakura and Syaoran saw that the cloaked figure was gone. A piercing scream echoed through the house from where Tomoyo had ran to. Both Sakura and Syaoran broke into a dead sprint, but it was too late. Tomoyo had suffered the same fate as her beloved; she lay dead, surrounded by a pool of blood, a knife sticking out of her throat, with several stab marks all over her body. Seeing this, Sakura covered her face with her hands, her eyes filled with tears as she fell to her knees in shock and sadness. Syaoran, overcoming his state of shock, knelt down next to Sakura and cradled her in his arms, desperately trying to calm her down. She wept in his arms over her best friend, now gone forever. After a half-hour of weeping, Syaoran suggested that they leave, for fear of being attacked themselves, though it also pained him to leave behind yet another good friend.

They continued on, crossing many more corridors and trying several more doors before finally, after at least 5 hours of endless horror, they saw the exit from a back kitchen door reveal itself a mere 100 feet away. Almost crying out in relief, Syaoran broke into a sprint and grabbed hold of Sakura's hand, pulling her along with him.

"Come on, we have to keep on running, we're almost there!" he encouraged her.

She internally smiled, having the absolute notion that they would live...

Suddenly, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Sakura panicked and began to pick up speed.

'Everything bad that's happened was always during these moments...' she thought.

Only 30 feet away from the exit, a great gust of wind blew them apart, causing Syaoran to let go of Sakura's hand and be propelled into an empty room off on the side. Sakura was blown 20 feet farther. Feeling dizzy, she lay on the ground a few moments until she heard Syaoran yell in pain, followed by an unnatural silence. She rushed up and ran, almost toppling onto the floor again, towards the empty room. There she found both a sight and a feeling that she'd hoped to never see or feel, even in her worse nightmare. Syaoran was lying on the floor, surrounded by blood, with several stab marks everywhere on him, a knife lying forgotten, only a few feet away. Sakura felt her heart shatter to pieces, and fell to her knees, not knowing how she could live through the immense pain she felt at the moment.

"No..." she whispered.

That was when the first tears started to fall. She then litterally collapsed onto the floor and cried her heart out. It seemed as if hours had gone by, when they had only been 20 minutes, when she dared near Syaoran's lifeless body. She stared down at him, tears dripping from her face onto his. Not caring anymore, she hugged him and continued to weep, burying her face in his neck.

"Please, you can't leave me Syaoran... I need you... because... I love you..." she said to him softly.

She continued to cry softly, whispering to him that she loved him more than anything. Inside, she thought,

'Is this real? Please, let this be a nightmare. Let me wake up. I can't live if this is true.'

It was then that the very end of the message on the wall at the entrance came to her mind:

"The last that stands, plagued with three words: Illusion or Disillusion?"

Illusion or disillusion? Illusion meant that this was only a nightmare, that when she'd wake up, Syaoran would still be alive, at her side. Disillusion meant that this was all reality, this was the end for heart. She wouldn't be able to live from then on. She remained there until dawn arrived, finding her asleep, on top of Syaoran, exhausted from her weeping. Suddenly, a pattern, filled with orange, yellow, white and red, appeared everywhere on the walls. In a flash, it disappeared, turned into a card that floated gently down next to Sakura. Face forwards, the card read, "The Illusion".

Syaoran slowly opened his eyes, wondering where on earth he was, until he recalled yesterdays events. He looked up to see Sakura, fast asleep, right on top of him. He blushed slightly, but then remembered everything that she'd done last night. She'd cried her very heart out right in front of him, but he hadn't been able to do anything. Because as he'd now realised, all of the scenes they'd seen, including, Eriol's, Tomoyo's and his own death, were caused by the trickery of The Illusion. The only reason Sakura, Eriol and himself had fallen for it was because they'd made sure that they couldn't pratice magic for 24 hours. Which meant that feeling auras was virtually impossible.

Sakura started to stir and opened her eyes weakly. She looked around, remembering what had happened and looked beneath her to see Syaoran... who was wide awake, staring at her. She gasped and sat up, while he himself sat up. Sakura's eyes were wide with shock.

"You, you were... you're..." she said.

He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly.

"I know, I saw. I wasn't really. It was The Illusion." he whispered softly to her ear.

"But then you...?" she said.

"Yes, I heard and saw everything you said and did."

Sakura blushed slightly, recalling what she had said, but soon put those feelings aside, overcome with an excess of joy. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself up against him, almost crying for joy. After staying in that position for a while, Syaoran pulled them apart and said,

"Oh and by the way..."

"What?" she asked.

"I love you too." he replied simply.

Staring into eachother's eyes, they slowly leaned in, their eyes closing as they got closer. Once their eyes had completely closed, their lips touched sweetly. It started softly, but grew more and more passionate as each second passed. At one point, Syaoran softly bit her lower lip, asking for entrance, which she gladly granted. They began exploring each other's mouthes, enjoying every second of this blissful kiss. But all good things come to an end, alas, as sometime later, they broke apart reluctantly, gasping for air. They looked at each other tenderly, and whispered in each other's ear,

"I love you."

**So, what did you think? I'm writing an on-going fic, as some of you may know, but this is my first attempt at a one-shot, and I've got to say, I was pretty pleased with myself! Tell me what you think!! Until next time, R&R!!!**

**Oh yeah, and if anybody has got an idea for a one-shot that they want written, please submit me your idea in a review and I will see if I can write it! Cross-overs accepted! **

_saphirablossom_


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